Detroit Pistons, 2010-11
Tattoo percentage: 67% (10 players with tattoos, 5 without)
The Pistons are currently one of the most tattooed teams in the league. While tattoos in the NBA seemed to reach their peak in the mid-2000s, in the years following Iverson’s dominance, it’s Detroit’s oldest players—Rip Hamilton, Ben Wallace, and Tracy McGrady—who have the most tattoos on the team, and the players in their mid-20s, who got their start during AI’s era, that avoided them.
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Players with tattoos:
Will Bynum
Bynum demonstrated considerable confidence in himself by getting the NBA logo tattooed on his arm in high school.
Ben Gordon
Gordon’s left arm manages to combine two of the most popular themes for NBA tattoos—basketball and religious iconography—into one design where an angel bequeaths a ball to a prostrate figure.
Richard Hamilton
Rip Hamilton has a few tattoos, including a tribute to his grandfather and a lion. He described one of his favorites for the NBA mailbag: “I have R.I.P. coming out the ground on a tombstone that means basketball for life, basketball till I die. Yeah.”
Jason Maxiell
Has a tattoo on his left shoulder.
Tracy McGrady
McGrady, who has suffered a lot of criticism from announcers and analysts, has a response on his right shoulder, just below a speeding basketball and his nickname. Against a curled scroll, a poignant bit of scripture: “AND EVERY TONGUE THAT SHALL RISE UP AGAINST THEE IN JUDGEMENT SHALL BE COMDEMNED—ISAIAH 54:17.”
Rodney Stuckey
Stuckey’s right shoulder features an elaborate design with what appears to be a skyline, a river, and a prince holding a basketball.
DaJuan Summers
Summers has both arms well covered, but it’s his first tattoo, acquired in high school, that he looks to for comfort: “‘It has my name on it,’ says his mother, Twana, a supermarket meat cutter who raised her three kids alone in Baltimore after her husband died when DaJuan was just 3. ‘And it has the names of [his sister] Regina and [brother] Malik. He says when things get tight, he grabs that tattoo.’”
Ben Wallace
While the literal embrace of his nickname, Big Ben, is his most distinct tattoo, Wallace’s “No Pain No Game” design has a direct message that speaks to his physical game.
Terrico White
Bucking the trend of young players not getting tattoos because it might mess up sponsorship deals, White entered the league at 20 years old with almost-full sleeves, including a lengthy text passage on his right wrist.
Chris Wilcox
Wilcox has a sunburst on his right shoulder, and a portrait of Christ on his left.
Players without tattoos:
Austin Daye
Jonas Jerebko
Greg Monroe
Tayshaun Prince
Charlie Villaneuva
Detroit Pistons, 2010-11
Tattoo percentage: 67% (10 players with tattoos, 5 without)
The Pistons are currently one of the most tattooed teams in the league. While tattoos in the NBA seemed to reach their peak in the mid-2000s, in the years following Iverson’s dominance, it’s Detroit’s oldest players—Rip Hamilton, Ben Wallace, and Tracy McGrady—who have the most tattoos on the team, and the players in their mid-20s, who got their start during AI’s era, that avoided them.
—
Players with tattoos:
Will Bynum
Bynum demonstrated considerable confidence in himself by getting the NBA logo tattooed on his arm in high school.
Ben Gordon
Gordon’s left arm manages to combine two of the most popular themes for NBA tattoos—basketball and religious iconography—into one design where an angel bequeaths a ball to a prostrate figure.
Richard Hamilton
Rip Hamilton has a few tattoos, including a tribute to his grandfather and a lion. He described one of his favorites for the NBA mailbag: “I have R.I.P. coming out the ground on a tombstone that means basketball for life, basketball till I die. Yeah.”
Jason Maxiell
Has a tattoo on his left shoulder.
Tracy McGrady
McGrady, who has suffered a lot of criticism from announcers and analysts, has a response on his right shoulder, just below a speeding basketball and his nickname. Against a curled scroll, a poignant bit of scripture: “AND EVERY TONGUE THAT SHALL RISE UP AGAINST THEE IN JUDGEMENT SHALL BE COMDEMNED—ISAIAH 54:17.”
Rodney Stuckey
Stuckey’s right shoulder features an elaborate design with what appears to be a skyline, a river, and a prince holding a basketball.
DaJuan Summers
Summers has both arms well covered, but it’s his first tattoo, acquired in high school, that he looks to for comfort: “‘It has my name on it,’ says his mother, Twana, a supermarket meat cutter who raised her three kids alone in Baltimore after her husband died when DaJuan was just 3. ‘And it has the names of [his sister] Regina and [brother] Malik. He says when things get tight, he grabs that tattoo.’”
Ben Wallace
While the literal embrace of his nickname, Big Ben, is his most distinct tattoo, Wallace’s “No Pain No Game” design has a direct message that speaks to his physical game.
Terrico White
Bucking the trend of young players not getting tattoos because it might mess up sponsorship deals, White entered the league at 20 years old with almost-full sleeves, including a lengthy text passage on his right wrist.
Chris Wilcox
Wilcox has a sunburst on his right shoulder, and a portrait of Christ on his left.
Players without tattoos:
Austin Daye
Jonas Jerebko
Greg Monroe
Tayshaun Prince
Charlie Villaneuva
